For a long time, Google Play allows you to change the country of your account to match where you live. This change has many limitations, although it is useful if you have moved to another country and want local applications to appear without the need for temporary tricks or fixes. In addition, as happens in other services, for example Netflix, depending on the country in which we are located, we will enjoy a somewhat different content compared to another country.
When can you change the country on Google Play
Some applications and games are launched on Google Play first in some countries, so that people who search for that application in the rest of the globe, it does not appear. If you are looking to change the country of Google Play to download an application available in another region, this method will not work for you: it is only for when you have moved to another country.
The Google Play country change option is reserved for when you move to another country and it has important restrictions to prevent it from being abused: you can only change countries once a year and as long as you have a payment method associated with the new country, be it a bank account or through PayPal. Also, your account cannot be part of a family plan associated with another country.
What advantages of changing the country
One of the most common scenarios for which users change the country of Google Play is to be able to access applications and games that are not available in their geographical area or country. It is something that also happens on Netflix, a technique that is practiced in order to watch series or movies that are restricted in Spain. Therefore, change the country in Google Play to one of the selected countries will enable the download of these restricted apps, although we are still in Spain. The same goes for other games that are restricted to certain areas.
But the advantage of being able to bypass these restrictions to download apps has some associated disadvantages, since the fact of changing the country is only designed for the real needs of change. First of all, and as we have already mentioned before, You can only change country once a year. It is a very important sacrifice that is made for a game or application, and after another 365 days we will not be able to change countries again. The second big disadvantage is that when changing the country settings Google Play balance cannot be used accumulated and that it was available in the previous country.
Change Google Play country
To change the country, you will have to configure it in Google Play. To do this, you must be in the new country and set up a payment method in that country.
- On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Play Store app.
- Tap Menu → Bill.
- Under “Country and profiles”, select your name and country.
- If you don’t have a payment method linked to the new country, follow the onscreen instructions to add it. A Google Payments profile will be created linked to the new country.
- The first payment method must belong to the country where you are adding the profile.
- After creating the profile, you can add payment methods from other countries.
- Google Play Store will automatically switch to the new country. This process can take up to 24 hours to complete.
